Most history of the Llewellin Setter breed, has been written about the development of the American Llewellin Setter strains and not about the strain that continued to be developed in England by Mr. Richard Purcell Llewellin, Esq. himself and by William Humphrey and several of the greatest Setter breeders in England and Ireland at the time who helped develop the Dashing Bondhu strain of Llewellin Setters. So we thought it was time that someone set the record straight and write on the personal development and accomplishments of these great men and their personal great strain they wanted to work with over most of their lives. 

"This is a work in progress" and will be refined and edited as more information becomes available to me. Please excuse the roughness at times and lengthiness of this draft that might also repeat info as it is collected and added.

The Dashing Bondhu bloodlines are  Mr. Richard Purcell Llewellin, Esq. (1840-1925) personal bloodlines that he personally developed and continued to develop and perfect for over 50 years himself. He even named them his Dashing Bondhu Setters himself and they remained his personal bloodline until his death in 1925.

The truth is, Mr. Llewellin had very little to do with the development of the "American strains" of Llewellin Setters and DID NOT want his name used on them. That is right, let me say it again, "Mr. Llewellin DID NOT want his  name "Llewellin" used on the dogs he had sent to America".

Many thought that Mr. Llewellin did not want his name credited for them because he was a humble man, which was also true, but the facts are that he didn't want his name used on the American Llewellin strains and felt they were only a cross of other strains and not his personal strain that he developed. In fact he knew that several English breeder's were crossing the Laverack, Duke, and Rhoebe Setters before Mr. Llewellin ever did. Many of those dogs imported from these other English breeder's were also used to develop the "American Llewellin strains", which Mr. Llewellin had no part in breeding, raising, or selecting them.

The only real part Mr. Llewellin had to do with the American strains was in making them popularized and making a few crosses of his personal outstanding Laverack Setters with Mr. Barclay Field's "Duke" and Mr. Thomas Statter's "Rhoebe" Setters himself, and offered their offspring to North American sportsmen. These early test breedings of Mr. Llewellin were first imported to North America by Mr. L. H. Smith and their development was continued in North America, but not by Mr. Llewellin who was seeking more consistent field setters than those produced in that manner.

This is why many early American writers and American Field trialers recognized the fact that Mr. Llewellin had very little to do with the early American Llewellin imports, so much so that they proclaimed the Llewellin Setter an "American breed"  because American breeder's had a major roll in their development, not Mr. Llewellin. In fact many of the dogs used in their development never did come from Mr. Llewellin, but from other English breeder's who continued  to make those crosses of the three strains.

Some feel a better name choice might have been the "Field Setter" as Mr. Llewellin wanted or "American Field Setter" and to leave Mr. Llewellin's personal name available for Mr. Llewellin to use as he seen fit. Of course this is now all in the past and the dogs are called and registered what they are today, but one has to wonder if Mr. Llewellin wanted to reserve his personal name for his personal strain now known as his Dashing Bondhu's and no strain or dog deserved more to be called a "Llewellin Setter" then the pure Dashing Bondhu Setter he developed for over 50 years of his life.

The American Llewellin Setter lines were basically named after and developed from famous individual dog's that were imported from England and then line bred so the same dog would show up in a pedigree numerous times, in hopes of forming a line of dogs resembling the original dog it was named after.

The first recognized American lines were known as the Blizzard line with American breeder's later developing lines like Gladstone, Tony'O, Roycelle, Bomber, just to name a few of the many now recognized strains of today that Mr. Llewellin had little or nothing to do with their development as he dropped the bloodlines that they came from.

Keep in mind that Mr. Llewellin, started sending Setters from test breedings, very early on to America and many other locations around the world, as most English breeders considered the Duke and Rhoebe Setter scrub Setters and not high class enough. But they soon dominated the field trails where ever they were and it became common knowledge that they were not what he considered his best Setters nor did they completely satisfy him. So he continued searching for the very best Setter's for his own personal breeding program instead of breeding further down the generations of the dogs he had.

Mr. Llewellin was a man of great means and would have been considered a multimillionaire in today's standards. Though he was a well educated man, there is no record of him ever being employed and Setters were his life's passion. He was very well known in the Setter world and for paying and refusing the greatest sums of money in the Setter world to obtain or own the very best individual field Setters that could be found.

Mr. Llewellin with his early Setters.

Mr. Llewellin Training Count

I am NOT insinuating that Mr. Llewellin's early exports were culls or undesirables to most people, even though it is reported that Mr. Llewellin said that the ones he sent were his culls. Quite the contrary, Mr. Llewellin (photos above) early culling process was well known and had a reputation to only allow exceptional specimens to reach maturity and leave his kennel. But common sense tells us that he would have kept the better specimens for himself no matter what the price he was offered. I don't think anyone would try to dispute that fact.

Many of the early American breeder's seem to over look the fact about their early dogs and that the ones that they had received were just the beginning of Llewellin's personal "pursuit of excellence" and that he had not yet found the right cross to satisfy himself and to develop his own personal strain of superior "Field Setter's" as he called them. It was not until 1878 that he started what became, known as his personal program of the "Dashing" line and then soon named his "Bondhu" line and then later calling them his "Dashing Bondhu" line and caused him to discontinue all other breedings he had made.

You may be asking yourself, what made the "Dashing Bondhu" lines so unique and superior over all the other early Llewellin and English Setters that were sent to America and developed by American breeders and else where?

In Mr. Humphrey's own words from his personal manuscript explains it best, "This brings us to the 2nd MOST IMPORTANT EVENT of the Llewellin Setter history in ENGLAND, the introduction of John Armstrong's Field Trial Champion "Armstrong's Dash II". He was bred by Edward Armstrong and was black, white and tan (still the most common color in Dashing Bondhu's today), whelped in 1874 and was by "Laverack's Blue Prince" and out of Armstrong's old "Kate", who was by "Laverack's Dash II" out of "Barclay Field's Kate", sister to "Barclay Field's Duke". The late Mr. George Brewis purchased the great "Armstrong's Dash II" from John Armstrong in 1876 and sold him to Mr. Llewellin after his last appearance at field trials in 1878 for the highest price ever paid for any setter at the time.  Mr. Llewellin valued this dog so highly, and was determined to have him at whatever cost. This dog, and his "Countess Bear" and other "Countess bred" bitches were what Llewellin claimed as his "Dashing" bloodline."

"FdCh. Ch. Countess Bear"(above)  was bred to "FdCh. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II" to produce the great  "FdCh. Dashing Bondhu"the beginning of Llewellin's personal "Dashing Bondhu" strain.

Before the addition of the great Field Champion "Armstrong's Dash II" in 1878, Mr. Llewellin had introduced the "Duke" bloodline by siring "Duke" on "Laverack" females with great results, but "Armstrong's Dash II", introduced the same bloodline by using Laverack sires bred to "Barclay Field's Kate" (Duke's full sister), who produced Fd Ch Armstrong's Old "Kate" who was again bred to a Laverack sire "Fd Ch Laverack's Blue Prince" to produce "Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II", beginning of the Dashing family, who Llewellin soon realized were far superior over all his earlier attempts of crossing these bloodlines. Mr. Llewellin then bred "Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II" to Fd Ch Ch Countess Bear (pure Laverack) who produced the great Field Champion "Dashing Bondhu" the beginning of the Bondhu family. Mr. Llewellin called all offspring using Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II bred to all Countess bred females as the Bondhu line, while calling offspring of Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II bred to his other outstanding females as Dashing only. Of course with "Fd Ch Dashing Bondhu" being sired by "Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II" it makes all Bondhu's of the Dashing family as well. So in reality, all Bondhu's have Dashing and are Dashing Bondhu, but not all Dashing's were Bondhu and were just called Dashing at the time. 

Keep in mind that breeding history has shown that it is not uncommon when crossing bloodlines to find superior results of offspring out of females of say line "A" bred with males of line "B", over offspring produced from breeding males of line "A" bred with females of line "B". Mr. Llewellin clearly found  this was the case with breeding "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Kate" (Duke's litter mate sister) to Fd Ch Laverack males instead of breeding "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Duke" (Kate's litter mate brother) to Fd Ch Laverack females. Mr. Llewellin was clearly not satisfied with his breeding program prior to 1878 of that bloodline that had "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Duke", "Statter's Rhoebe", and did not have "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Kate" in their pedigrees. History shows us that Mr. Llewellin did not start breeding forward (down generations) until he purchased "Fd.Ch. Armstrong's Dash II" and continued the pure Dashing Bondhu line until his death in 1925 having made dozens of Field and Dual Champions.

Historical quote of the "Dashing" Bloodlines

"Kate, the sister of Duke (sire of Dan), was also crossed with the Laverack,  She is the ancestor of the dogs whose names have the prefix "Dashing," as "Dashing Bondhu," "Dashing Berwyn,"  (J.C. Higgins, The Century Company, Vol. 31, Issue #1, Nov. 1885)

Though I agree the earlier imported Llewellin Setters were great field dogs compared to what was available at that time, which was proven in the American field trails, they were known not to be consistent in the field, According to Mr. Llewellin, they would do exceptional field work some days but were an embarrassment on other days. They were also known to be hard headed, hyper, and not easy to train, common traits found in some American Llewellin and many English Setters today.

Unlike the American Llewellin's, the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines were bred as English gentlemen foot hunting gun dogs for nearly 100 years before being imported to the United States and have been bred in the US for another 50 years in the same manner.

I personally, have yet to see any line of any breed surpass the natural born scenting abilities, pointing, backing, retrieving, natural hunting instincts, high intelligence level, and most of all, the strong willingness to please as the pure Dashing Bondhu bloodlines. They are also the most genetically sound bloodlines found in any breed. This is why after 35 years of professionally training, owning, and breeding hundreds of bird and hunting dogs of almost all verities and strains, we are dedicated to preserving these pure Dashing Bondhu bloodlines of Llewellin Setters here at Mountain View Kennel.

Humphrey with his Golden Eagle

The following quotations are from Mr. William Humphrey manuscripts "Sporting Press, 1876: "Armstrong's Dash II" is rather more than three quarters Laverack blood, whilst his grand dam, "Kate" was own sister to Mr. Barclay Field's "Duke". Since I (Humphrey) have been cognizant of this fact, as there used to be a mystery about "Kate", the reason why I (Humphrey) have mentioned these facts about this dog's breeding is that the grossest injustice had been done to Mr. Llewellin by Mr. A F Hochwalt, author of "Pointers and Setters of America". How any man, much less a person of so high a press reporting standard as Mr. Hochwalt, can level such gross, unfounded charges against any person? No writer could have written with a more jealous, bitter, poisoned pen. Not only are his statements utterly untrue, but so are many other references in his book equally so. As I (Humphrey) have pointed out, that at the time when this dog's correct breeding was given 1876 the dog was neither owned nor bred from by Mr. Llewellin."

""Armstrong's Dash II" was owned by the late Mr. George Brewis, one of the finest sportsmen in this (England) or any other country. Mr. Brewis' "Armstrong's Daisy" is sister to "Armstrong's Dash II" and was a field trial winner, and when bred to the Laverack dog "Tam O'Shanter" was the dam of champion "Sir Alister"". They were also the parents of "Platt's Wild Rose", bench and field trial winner.

"Armstrong's Dash III" was whelped in 1876 and is brother to "Armstrong's Dash II". He was also owned by Mr. Llewellin, who later sold him to America. He was a field trial winner in both countries. He is the sire of Lord Downe's "Sam III", who was out of Hollin's "Silk II" who was a field trial winner. He is also the sire of Hartley's "Phyllis". The first breeding that Mr. Llewellin made with "Armstrong's Dash II" was with his "Countess Bear".

From this breeding came his field trial champion "Dashing Bondhu", the first of Llewellin's "Bondhu" family who was an outstanding field trial producing sire. His "Dashing Beauty" was sister to this dog, and was as field trial winner, the same year, a further son of "Dash II" and his "Countess Moll", "Dashing Monarch", he was a field trial winner in America.

In 1881 Mr. Llewellin again won the Kennel Club Derby with his "Dashing Ditto"' a daughter of "Dash II" out of his "Rifle". She was a daughter of "Dan" and "Nellie". In the following year he again established a record for the winning of the Kennel Club Derby Stake by having four puppies left in for the final, namely "Rebel Wind'em", "Sidney Bondhu", "Star Bondhu" and "Sable Bondhu". He withdrew the three former and allowed "Sable Bondhu" to meet the winning pointer for the best of both breeds. "Sable Bondhu" was declared the winner, with "Star Bondhu", "Sidney Bondhu", "Sable Bondhu" and "Rebel Wind'em" as dividing first and second setter Kennel Club Derby. These "Bondhu" puppies were by his field champion "Dashing Bondhu" and out of his champion "Novel;", daughter of "Dan" and "Nellie".

In the following year 1883 Llewellin again won this Blue Ribbon Stake for the fourth time, three years in succession. This time the winner was "Dashing Clinker", son of "Dash II" and his "Countess Rose", a daughter of "Count Wind'em", and his "Norna". A further daughter of this breeding, "Dashing Novice" was second at the National. The last dog that he exhibited on the show bench was "Pet Bondhu" 1882.

The following is some of the achievements of the Llewellin setters, which were personally bred by Mr. Llewellin: dual champion "Count Wind'em", field trial champion "Dashing Bondhu", American field trial champion Adam's "Drake" and field trial champion "Daphne D". He also owned field trial champion "Dan". field trial champion "Armstrong's Dash II", dual champion "Countess", field trial champion "Sam" and champion "Prince", whilst he bred and owned champion "Remus", champion "Novel", champion "Phantom", champion "Princess", champion "Puzzle", also "Laurel", "Countess Moll", "Nora", "Norna", "Stafford", "Pride of the South", "Paris", "Gladstone", "Count Noble", "Leicester", "Lincoln", Bergundthal's "Rake" and "Druid".

Famous writer Mr. L. H. Smith, who had several personal visits and field outings with Mr. Llewellin and his dogs, recalled one outing in 1894 stating "I was very favorably impressed with one young dog "Dashing Bondhu II". He was almost a duplicate of old Dan....It struck me as being remarkable that , after continuous breeding in the same strain, a dog should come so much like that famous sire. There was also a lat of six, all of one litter and about 18 months old. Excepting one, which was larger than the rest, they where a very even lot." He continues in another writing "I was at Mr. Llewellin's place in May, 1894, and saw his dogs run on partridges, and in August I shot over them on the grouse mores in whales. His dogs are in no way inferior to the dogs I first saw with him in 1873." It was very evident that Mr. Llewellin kept his very best and continue to maintain superior field Setters over the years.

When the official registration of the dogs began in England, Mr. Llewellin realized the importance of "Armstrong's Dash II" was to his breeding program and wanted to make sure these lines that he personally developed would be recognized and kept separately from all of the other earlier Llewellin lines that were being developed by others. This is why he started to use the name Dashing in honor of the great "Armstrong's Dash II" and "Bondhu" (in Welsh "heart of oak") in honor of the phenomenal field champion and producer "Dashing Bondhu" who was out of "Armstrong's Dash II" and the great field champion "Countess Bear". It was in their honor that Mr. Llewellin started to call their decedents "Dashing Bondhu" giving them a unique name reserved only for his personal line.

It is interesting to note that the importance of keeping the "Dashing Bondhu" lines as pure and separated from other Llewellin English Setter lines was not only realized by Llewellin and other English and Irish breeders at the time, but was also recognized by the early European Registry. They considered the Dashing Bondhu line so different, unique, and worth preserving pure that the "European rule" mandated that when a component of the Dashing Bondhu (aka Scinn Amach and Horsford) is mated with any other component, the offspring cannot carry the name Dashing Bondhu. This gave Llewellins personal Dashing Bondhu bloodline a distinction from all other English Setter lines in England, long before, but much in the same way that FDSB later made a broader distinction for Llewellin Setter lines from other English Setter lines here in the states in 1902.

These are the same practices we use here at Mountain View Kennel. In stead of exploiting the dogs to promote our kennel name like many kennels do when they find a great line of dogs, we continue to honor Mr. Llewellin, as Mr. Humphrey did and continue to use "Dashing and Bondhu" as part of our dogs names. All of our Llewellin Setter's have "Dashing Bondhu" or "Bondhu" as part of their name.

Examples: Dashing Blaze Bondhu, Dashing Bondhu Ringo, Dashing Bondhu Hank, Dashing Bondhu Princess, Dashing Bondhu Chess, Dashing Bondhu CountOrtho, Dashing Bondhu Freckles, Dashing Bondhu Babe, Dashing Bondhu Henrietta, Dashing Missy Bondhu, Dashing Bondhu BelgiumBel, Dashing Bondhu Tonette, etc.. We only switch the names around, because so many names were already taken with Dashing first and Bondhu third, so we now use Bondhu in the second position allowing us the liberty to repeat names used long ago. Example, "Dashing John Bondhu" would be a completely different dog from "Dashing Bondhu John", but at one glance of our dogs names, you can tell they are of purest Dashing Bondhu bloodlines.

The only dogs that don't have both Dashing Bondhu in their registered name, are dogs we purchased as adults that had already registered names that could not be changed, like Irish Bondhu Chess, Hank's Champ Bondhu, IrishKing Ashly Bondhu, IrishKing Bondhu Lady, and IrishKing Bliss Bondhu.

It has been stated on some websites that on Mr. Llewellin's passing in 1925, "Mr. Humphrey purchased only 12 dogs from Mr. Llewellin's kennel keeper and purchased 30-40 Setters from the America". I assume this was written to some how mislead the public that the American Llewellin strains had a major roll in the development of even Humphrey's program or that Llewellin's remaining dogs were not of higher quality.

Quite the contrary was true, Mr. Humphrey's own Manuscript clearly states that the kennel keeper was instructed to "give Mr. William Humphrey ALL his last remaining dogs". In fact the facts have been completely turned around, it was that he inherited 30 to 40 of Llewellin's remaining dogs and purchased only a few dogs back from America over many years and to our knowledge, all  were dogs originally produced by Mr. Humphrey or Mr. Llewellin himself and he was simply importing their own dogs back to England. They were not importing American lines to bred to their dogs.

Keep in mind that distemper vaccines had not yet been developed, so Llewellin and Humphrey would many times place dogs with other kennels, outside of the UK, knowing that if distemper caused major loses in there area, they could purchase their dogs back, even if it meant spending twice what they received for them. So when you read that they imported some Setters back from the States, it must be acknowledged that they were simply dogs they had sold to the states in the first place and because of some dogs being lost to distemper, they needed to purchase some of of them back, many times paying twice what they received.

I don't know how this rumor started, but the Dashing Bondhu line was never the "result of Mr. Humphrey combining his Llewellins from Mr. Llewellin’s stock with American Llewellins and those from Law Turner and others." This would have been an impossible feat since Mr. Llewellin had himself created the Dashing Bondhu line in 1878, some 52 years before his death and interesting them to Mr. Humphrey.

The truth of the matter is, Mr. Humphrey was so highly a respected friend of Mr. Llewellin as well as other top Llewellin Setters breeders like Mr. H. C. Heartly who without question had the finest kennel of both Laverack and Llewellin Dashing Bondhu blood in the world and Mr. Laws Turner who also had superior Llewellin Dashing Bondhu and Laverack setters. Both of these famous Setter breeders entrusted Mr. Humphrey with ALL their remaining Dashing Bondhu Setters on their passing as well.

It was only these Dashing Bondhu from all these great men that Mr. Humphrey fancied for 38 years and with the help of his grandson Chris Sorenson, and close friend Fr. Brannon of Ireland, continued breeding, preserving, improving, developing, and some would say perfecting the "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines and in Humphrey's words, "following in Llewellin's foot steps in every way possible".

Mr. Humphrey  personally finished 41 Field Champions (over one a year) in the process until his own passing in 1963. Many feel that Mr. Humphrey not only preserved Mr. Llewellin's outstanding "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines but with the addition of Mr. Heartly's and Mr. Turner's great Dashing Bondhu dogs, contributing greatly in refining and furthering their development. This was the reason why Mr. Humphrey was labeled "the King of the Bondhu's" and inspired the book "King of the Bondhu's". His Llewellin Setters were considered the greatest natural field Setters in the world and still are by many of us today.

Dashing Swan Bondhu, bred by Mr. Humphrey in the early 1960's. Note the similarity to our dogs today, even his high held head and tail.

Of course the first Dashing Bondhu's imported to North America were directly from Mr. Llewellin himself, but these early imports were few and far between and all were likely out-crossed to help in the developing of the American Llewellin Setters. Of course Mr. Llewellin was critical of his strain being crossed with the American strains and was viciously attacked by American breeder's and writer's for that. Unfortunately, it was not until after Mr. Llewellin's death that many realized that Llewellin was right and started to breed them pure. 

William Humphrey exported pure Dashing Bondhu's through the 1950's and early 60's and unfortunately still many were quickly out-crossed with the American Llewellin bloodlines once again. It was not until the mid-1960's, after Humphrey's death when the Dashing Bondhu's were being imported from Humphrey's grand son, Cris Sorenson, by Dr. Stephenson , Dick Biggs and Dr. Everett E. Bickers of Indiana who imported the majority of these lines into the US. These breeders bred from the dominant William Humphry's Dashing Bondhu line descending directly back to R.L. Purcell Llewellin himself.

Wm. Humphrey's grandson, Chris Sorenson was the last known owner of the original Humphrey/Llewellin  Dashing Bondhu's Kennel in England. Sadly, he now has an animal transport service there and no longer has any Llewellin Setters. 

Alfred King got his Dashing Bondhu's from these and other fine gentilmen in the 1960's and 70's and they were kept pure until Al introduced IrishKing Bondhu Ashly in the 1989 from Dr. Everett E. Bickers. Ashly was bred to several hundred Llewellin Setters, many of the pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's with excellent results, producing many outstanding "Natural" foot hunting bird dogs, with exceptional ability like "Hank" aka Henry PrinceOf Pause, fame of OLN's Hunting show, "Hunting with Hank". Some call the line the "Hank" line, but it's the Ashly line through and through. In fact "Dash" is a DOUBLE Bred Ashly and is out of a son of Ashly who just happens to be Hank. 

We, Mike & Marie Bloodgood of Mountain View Kennel plan to continue to breed back the pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's for many generations to come.

They also intend to maintain the lines from Humphrey's dear friend for many years, Father Bannon from Ireland, Machad, Scinn Amach [pure Dashing Bondhu] & Cloncurragh (Wind’em 90+% Dashing Bondhu] Kennel names, by using the IrishKing Bondhu Ashly bloodlines and breeding them with the pure Humphrey's the the King's proved successful. 

Another line that Ashly carries in his pedigree encludes Setters from South Africa owned by Trevor Wostenholm who got outstanding  pure Dashing Bondhu's directly from Wm. Humphries and Fr, Brannon. Only down side is that he might have added a cross of the Blizzard imported from the USA to Africa a long, long time ago, but know one seems to know for a fact. If true, that would put it back about 8 generations in the IrishKing lines today.

Last but not least, the pure Dashing Bondhu's imported from Belgium from Madam Marie Therese a Goes, who also was a very dear friend of Wm. Humphries and Fr. Brannon who gave her all their Wind'em's and many of their outstanding pure Dashing Bondhu's. Fourtunately, we were able to obtain some pure Dashing Bondhu's that she had later in years that have been bred to pure Humphrey's and IrishKings now without the Wind'em blood. We are not sure if she too was finally getting out of the Wind'em's or she was preserving a line of pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's to continue using as an out-cross, but what ever the reason, we have preserved them in our program.

The aging Mr. Humphrey and his grandson Chris Sorenson exported several outstanding "Dashing Bondhu's" to America in the 1960's. It was these imports that are the direct ancestors of our pure "Dashing Bondhu" Llewellin Setter's here at Mountain View Kennel. In fact, because of spreading out the generations 8-10 years apart, several of our Llewellin Setters are still only a few generations removed from the original 1960's English imports, that came directly from Humphrey and his grandson Chris Sorenson.

When we tried several Llewellin Setter bloodlines in search of the best we came across our first pure "Dashing Bondhu" dog we named her "Dashing Blaze Bondhu" (1996-2007). In over 35 years of owning and training some of the best bird dogs in the world, Blaze was without a doubt the most natural and most outstanding bird dog we had ever been blessed to hunt over. Blaze was a complete born natural and never broke a point, never missed a retrieve, and backed every dog she ever hunted with, naturally. Even though she was only 4 months of age when her first quail season started, she pointed and retrieved over two hundred native wild Kentucky quail her first season. She continued year after year to prove she was the most outstanding and was never hunted on any game bird preserves, just plain ole' privately owned Kentucky farm land.

Blaze was pure 100% Humphrey "Dashing Bondhu" breeding, meaning all the dogs in her pedigree traced back to Humphrey's kennel only. She was produced by Al King and was out of Dashing Ringold Bondhu and Dashing Whitette Bondhu that also proved to be a phenomenal breeding of the most natural bird dog pups I have ever seen or could imagine. This was a true testaments to Llewellin's, Humphrey's, and the King's outstanding breeding programs.

It has taken us several years to secure the Dashing Bondhu dogs we have today, especially those that are pure Humphrey bred, like our Dashing Blaze Bondhu was. They are our Dashing Bondhu Ringo, Dashing Bondhu CountOrtho, so far.

We feel hands down that the pure "Dashing Bondhu" Llewellin Setter's are the most natural hunters, pointers, backers, retrievers, with the greatest scenting ability, and are of the highest intelligence, and most important of all maintain a strong willingness to please their master. In fact I have yet to find a better pointer of all pointing breeds, a better retriever of all retrieving breeds, or any dog breed smarter or easier to train, or as loyal a companion as a pure "Dashing Bondhu" Llewellin Setter .

Probably credited to the higher amount of Laverick blood, they are also one of the most if not the most beautiful of all the Llewellin Setter strains developed, while still maintaining a medium frame and short-medium coat required in good field setters.

The development of the Dashing Bondhu's that we have today were no easy feat and their natural greatness should be of no surprise. Mr. Llewellin spent over 50 years developing them under the strictest selection and Mr. Humphrey spent another 38 years perfecting them in England as well as Fr. Brannon in Ireland, who also spent over 30 years breeding them and working with Humphrey. No other strain can claim this history nor can be called Llewellin's favorite personal strain nor are more deserving of the name "Llewellin Setter".

I guess we feel the same way Llewellin, Humphrey, and Fr. Brannon did, that these lines are simply the very best of the best bred Setters in the world. In fact, they are the only breed or line of dog that I have ever found that was in NO need of ANY improvements. All the pure Dashing Bondhu Setters we have owned or produced were and are totally genetically sound, without any genetic, health, or temperament problems. They are easily naturally bred, most making wonderful mothers, raising large healthy litters, generation after generation.

I take no credit for their superior development, I am only interested in using our many years of breeding experience and genetic knowledge to recognize the very best from the rest and to select the very best to preserve this amazing natural strain of true "Llewellin" Setters.

Father Bannon

Fr. Brannon in 1974 with his Dashing Bondhu strain of Llewellin Setter. Look at the similarity to our Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters today!

It should be noted that Humphrey, had shared many of his Dashing Bondhu bloodlines with a Catholic Priest, Father Bannon of Scinn Amach kennel in Ireland. Fr. Bannon's pedigrees were basically 95% of the same pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu bloodlines with only about 5% Wind'em, Clonclurragh, and Machad which are also believed to be at least 90+% of the Dashing bloodline. Resulting in Fr. Brannon's Scinn Amach kennel in Ireland averaging  about 99.995% Dashing Bondhu (like Machad Ambassador) and when bred to 100% Humphrey females, the offspring are about 99.998% (like Irishking Bondhu Ashley) and then about 99.999% (like Henry Princeof Pause "HANK") and then 100% Dashing Bondhu in just three generations with pure Humphrey females.

I have recently found out from family friends of the Humphrey's that Mr. Humphrey's and Fr. Brannon's friendship were much closer than originally thought. It seems it was not uncommon for them to switch homes with one another for a couple of months each summer and work, train, and evaluate each others setters. This would mean that they had a much closer first hand knowledge of each other's Setters and breeding interaction between their kennels.

This is why we can say that all our Llewellin Setters are pure Dashing Bondhu today. Basically, they cannot be any purer Dashing Bondhu then that, but keep in mind that individual dogs still have different genes carried down for generations. So even though Llewellin, Humphrey, and Fr. Bannon's Setter's were of the same exact heritage, every dog carried different ancestry genes making them very useful for maintaining genetic health while still maintaining strong consistency in quality.

Fr. Brannon's Setters are believed to be the second purest "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines available in the world. These Irish bloodlines were imported to America in 1988 and proved to also be natural outstanding bird dogs.

The 1988 Irish imported "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines proved to be the perfect answer to keeping the Humphrey "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines as pure as possible, without breeding them too close. They made it possible to breed the great Humphrey's pure "Dashing Bondhu" imported English bloodlines with Fr. Brannon's "Dashing Bondhu" imported Irish bloodlines.

Henry PrinceOf Pause aka "Hank" Star of OLN's "Hunting with Hank"

 What would result by crossing these two outstanding  "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines? Two perfect examples are Outdoor Life Network's famous "Hank" registered name Henry PrinceOf Pause , from OLN's TV series, "Hunting with Hank", and Hank's son Dash" registered name Hank’s Dashing Bondhu photo below left, who later stared in OLN's TV Series "Upland Days with Dash and Dez".
 
 

Hank's Dashing Bondhu aka "Dash" of OLN's "Upland Days with Dash"

These two great dogs are not only all out of the SAME exact combination of pure "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines that we specialize in, but "Hank" is also the grand sire and great grand sire of our own outstanding stud "Dashing Bondhu Hank" and outstanding females "Dashing Bondhu Chess" ,"Dashing Bondhu Princess", "Dashing Missy Bondhu", and the DOUBLE Grand sire of our Dashing Bondhu Henrietta. We also own a direct son of "Dash" named  " Hank's Bondhu Champ" which also makes him a grandson of "Hank" as well. "Hank" and "Dash" are perfect examples of what is produced when combining the Humphrey's "Dashing Bondhu" imports with Fr. Brannon's (Irish) "Dashing Bondhu" imports that we specialize in. If you have not been able to see these great representatives of the pure "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines in action when they were on the Out Door Life Network , you can order many of the high class productions of "Hunting with Hank" and "Upland Days with Dash and Dez" episodes on tape and DVD from HWH web site for a very reasonable price.

 Basically, "Hank's" sire "Irishking Bondhu Ashley", was 50% Fr. Bannon's Irish and 50% Mr. Humphrey's "Dashing Bondhu's" and "Hank's" dam "Dashing Janette Bondhu" was 100% Humphrey's English "Dashing Bondhu" breeding. This makes " Hank" 75% Humphrey and 25% Fr. Brannon's "Dashing Bondhu". "Hank's" son "Dash" was produce by breeding "Hank" to "Dashing Miss Bondhu" a female that was also 75% Humphrey and 25% Fr. Brannon's "Dashing Bondhu". Also, "Hank's Ringo Bondhu", is a sire to several of our dogs and he was produced by breeding OLN's "Hank" to "Dashing Chess Bondhu" a pure Humphrey's "Dashing Bondhu" female who was also full litter mate sister to our great "Dashing Blaze Bondhu" and is why you will find "Dashing Chess Bondhu" in our pedigrees numerous times in an effort to preserve as much of that great litter of pure Humphrey "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines as possible in our breeding program.

Unfortunately, not all kennels that had bred the pure Dashing Bondhu line named all their dogs using Dashing and Bondhu as parts of their names, so it needs to be noted that Horsford, Scinn Amach, Count, Ortho, Awrose, Irish Bondhu, Irishking Bondhu, Scottking Bondhu, Hank's Bondhu, and BelgiumKing Bondhu are also names used in pure "Dashing Bondhu" pedigrees.

Marie Thérèse à Goës

It should be noted that some dogs from Humphrey, and Fr. Brannon's also went to  to Marie Thérèse à Goës in Belgium, The à Goës family traces back to olden times in Longueville, east of Brussels. Very similar family history to Mr. Humphrey's heritage in England, long being associated with Falconry and of family history serving the Royal families in Belgian as Falconers.

Marie visited England quite often when she was a young woman, especially right after the World War II. She visited and stayed with William Humphrey family at Lake Cottage. She also was a friend of Ronald Stevens a very well known and important English falconer of his time who wrote many books on falconry.

Marie had acquired some special skills in Falconry which made her very popular with the falconry world. She became close friends of William Humphrey who shared his knowledge of falconry and the Llewellin Setter and they often hunted together around the British Isles. Marie became an expert in her knowledge of the dogs and their use both to the gun and to falconry. William shared some of his Setters with her upon his death and these dogs were taken to Belgium to be added to her kennel which Marie Thérèse named, “D’Hurlain Pré.” In French that means “The Meadows of Hurlain” the area next to her home.

Unlike William Humphrey and Fr. Brannon, Marie Thérèse heavily out-crossed most of the Dashing Bondhu Setters she purchased with her"Wind'em" bloodline that she had obtained from them earlier. It was reported that Llewellin and Humphrey had discarded the Wind'em line from their programs because of genetic problems. Marie Thérèse used the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines from Mr. Humphrey and later from Fr. Brannon as an out-crosses in an effort to stop the genetic problems from surfacing in her Wind'em program and it worked with some success.

Unfortunately the dogs still carried many problems recessively and out-crossing must be continued or the genetic problems will surface once again. It's no wonder that breeder's working with the Wind'em bloodlines today are very strong opponents against line or inbreeding of any kind. They also have genetic testing like hip certification on their dogs. Which should always be a red flag to buyer's, that the dogs are likely carrying genetic problems recessively and their bloodlines need constant testing or why the need to test. They also fail to mention that the certification does not mean the dogs are not carriers and that they are just as likely if not more likely to pass it on to their offspring if their bloodlines are known carriers. The worst part about this is that many kennels are adding the Wind'em imported bloodline to their Llewellin Setters unwittingly adding the genetic faults to the Llewellin and English Setter breeds.

Marie Thérèse à Goës passed away at age 84. She never married and was a devoted to her dogs and falconry. Selling most of her Wind'em Llewellin Setters to Italian aristocrats and can be credited for many of the Llewellin Setters found in Italy today. Marie Thérèse was President of the English Setter Club of Belgium. She had a strong dislike for American breeders, feeling that they screwed up every breed of dog they had ever bred, so she only sold a few of her setters to US kennels with strong instructions to only breed them to dogs not of the same breeding. The funny part is, it's my personal opinion that as a dog breeder, Marie Thérèse à Goës is probably responsible for continuing the most genetically faulted strain of Llewellin Setter ever developed.

Fortunately, we have been able to locate some pure Dashing Bondhu's from Marie Thérèse kennel in Belgium that she kept pure without adding any Wind'em. They were originally imported from Fr. Brannon in later years probably to use for a new out-crosses when ever she needed them for her Wind'em's. Though it is also possible that she too was fazing out of the Wind'em's and switching over to the pure Dashing Bondhu's like those before her, it's not clear.

They were imported from Belgium to the USA in more recent years. Our Dashing Bondhu Bel and Dashing Bondhu Janie have this rare pure Dashing Bondhu bloodline in their pedigrees. They are 100% pure Dashing Bondhu without ANY Wind'em blood what so ever and are as fine a dog as anyone could ask for and are proven genetically sound without any recessive problems.

Last but not lest, Mr. Humphrey also sent several of his pure Dashing Bondhu's to South Africa to the kennel of Mr. Trevor Wostenholms. Little is know about them, except that they were exceptional dogs and he kept the Dashing Bondhu name on his dogs.

It is unfortunately, that in most registries here in the United States, the "Dashing Bondhu" name is not reserved for just Llewellin Setters of pure or high percentage "Dashing Bondhu" breeding and a breeder can use it as part of a name even if the dog has no "Dashing Bondhu" in their pedigree. So buyer's beware and read all pedigrees at least five generations back very carefully in order to expose the impostors. This is why we show 5 generations on all our dogs we use for breeding showing you 6 generations of every pup we offer. We actually check all our dogs all the way back at least ten or more generations. Many pedigrees of dogs will have some Bondhu names when little to none is actually in the dogs true background.

We were once considering a dog that had a five generation pedigree of all dogs names having Dashing Bondhu in them. We were surprised to find out in a ten generation that he was actually 25% American Llewellin with Blizzard, Gladstone, and Bomber dogs on his dam's side. Needless to say, we passed on him.

Derry Argue's, Advie kennel in Scotland is also one that comes to mind. Many people think the Advie bloodline are pure Dashing Bondhu, unfortunately, most pedigrees trace back far enough show American lines and/or much of the Wind'em line. This is why we do not have any Advie bloodlines in our kennel. Also, it should be noted that Derry Argue has always favored his English Pointer's and has discontinued his Llewellin Setter breeding program in recent years. Please understand that I am not saying that they are not good bird dogs, it's just that we want to only have the purest of Dashing Bondhu bloodlines.

Warning!

There are also a few dogs of very questionable pedigree, meaning their authenticity is very much in question. Some English Setter kennels in America became Llewellin Setter kennels in what seemed over night with the same dogs. FDSB poor litter registration policies for years allowing breeders to hand write individual litter papers for each of their pups without actually registration the litter or even the generations before years later. This allowed some to go many generations back, after dogs and owner's may have passed away, so no one would be able to prove their dogs were fakes. This is why we don't have ANY pedigrees with "STRAIGHT CREEK" dogs in them. It's been our long opinion that Straight Creek pedigrees are far from trustworthy and the killer part is, they actually are promoted as bringing back the Count, Ortho, and Bondhu Bloodlines, but far from it. It is my opinion that NONE of those dogs go back to them.   Even the most noted Llewellin experts of our time will not accept the Straight Creek pedigrees. Some how they got around the DNA ordeal by telling FDSB they were no longer in business, but all the while they continued to advertise their dogs in the Pointer Journal. Now what good is DNA, anyone can prove the parents of a dog, but no one can prove there pedigrees are legit.

Only the absolute best dogs with the most trusted pedigrees should be used. So if you don't see certain kennel names in our pedigrees that may still advertise their dogs are of the old Count and/or Bondhu bloodlines, there is a very good reason they are not in ours.

By the way, the original Count and Count Ortho were pure Dashing Bondhu.

 When Mr. Humphrey's Dashing Bondhu's were imported to North America in the 1960's, most American and Canadian breeders simply out crossed them with their "American Llewellin" blood lines and even with many English Setters to improve their programs or to be used as an out-cross to hide genetic problems. This practice continues today in most kennels. In fact the pure Llewellin Setter breed was seriously endangered for many years and it was not until the 1990's when they once again started to find popularity.

Much of the Llewellin Setter's rebirth in the 1990's can be accredited to hunters having smaller area's available to hunt. This required hunters to find dogs that handle better and hunt closer. Also, the internet helped educate the hunters and the public of the Llewellin Setter's great hunting abilities as well as how they make wonderful pets that the whole family can enjoy. But I think all would agree that OLN #1 sporting show "Hunting with Hank" showed the world a living example of what a pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setter, can and will do for their master, resulting in promoting all Llewellin Setter's in a good light. 

Our friends Al and Drenda King need to be credited with keeping the Humphrey's and Fr. Brannon's Dashing Bondhu lines pure and for producing Henry PrinceOf Paws, aka "Hank" and his son Hank's Dashing Bondhu, aka "Dash". The King's kept the Humphrey line pure for over 40 years and added Fr. Brannon's imports and kept them pure for another 25+ years. If not for them, there would be no Hunting with Hank or Upland Days with Dash on OLN, because without them there would not of been "Hank" or "Dash". Only with the King's help, have been able to build a strong breeding program of pure Dashing Bondhu's once again, making them available today. 

Unfortunately, most people didn't realize that there is so much difference in bloodlines and how rare Hank's bloodlines in the pure form actually was. Some pedigrees may appear to have a bunch of Dashing Bondhu descendants, but when looking back in their pedigrees, out crosses of Wind'em, and American bloodlines are very evident and these dogs like in Europe, should not be named, considered, or referred to as Dashing Bondhu.

The Humphrey Llewellin's (Horsford Dashing, Horsford Count & Countess, Dashing Bondhu's) dogs were known to be bold but easy to handle, "a true gentleman's dog". They are superior natural foot hunting dogs. Because they were imported much later on, they were not influenced by the big running American field trails, requiring horses to keep up with them, shock collars to control them or tacking collars to locate them. Dogs that require high tech equipment, produce pups that also require it.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that most historians feel about the early American Llewellin and English Setter's today, they suffer from much paper hanging (switching of papers) and many believe that some breeders added some Pointer blood to make the dogs hunt farther and wider so they could compete in the big running field trails judged from horse back. I am sorry to say, that it seems the longer that they were in the USA, the much better chance of having false pedigrees attached to them or dogs with incorrect pedigrees would be introduced. Having dogs DNA'ed today will never undo what was done in the past and is why these later imports and keeping the strain pure is so very important.

The Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters are recognized for being less high strong and highly intelligent, thinking before they act, with outstanding scenting, natural strong pointing and 2nd to no other breed retrieving abilities, making them the best choice for foot hunting upland game birds as well as wonderful life long companions and loyal family pets.

I have been totally shocked to watch programs on TV where a pointer is hunted with a retriever who walks behind the hunter to just retrieve downed birds that the pointer locates and points. This shows where the direction and caliber of the other pointing breeds are headed when they need help in hunting upland game birds. What is amazing is how fast they have changed. It was only a few years ago when FDSB bowed to the anti-hunting and animal right's groups and no longer conducted shoot to kill trials.

I have also owned top retrievers and can tell you first hand, as waterfowl retrievers they are tops in their field, but for retrieving upland game birds, our Llewellin Setter's are second to none and can and do make excellent retriever's of waterfowl.

We must keep in mind that the selection was very different in America and even within each line. They each have their own style, appearance, and temperament and is what makes them each recognized as a unique line. Everyone has different tastes, hence different lines were developed. In fact at one point the American lines became so recognizably different from Mr. Llewellin's own personal dogs that some American writers claimed them an "American breed" and believe it or not, they even questioned if Mr. Llewellin's last dogs should be considered Llewellin Setters or not?

There is no doubt that Mr. Llewellin's Setter's were superior to all other bird dogs right from the start and the addition of Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II at great expense to his breeding program in 1878 was the missing link Llewellin was looking for to even improve his setters even more. Because of the Dashing Bondhu's greatness Llewellin's personal Dashing Bondhu lines were continued by William Humphrey who was regarded one of the world's best dog breeders of his time. Also, Humphrey's grandson Chris Sorenson and the Irish breeder Father Bannon for 30 plus years. The Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's were imported by Dr. Sorrenson to the US and were then preserved by Al & Drenda King for 33+ years, and by Mike & Marie Bloodgood since 1996 at Mountain View Kennel. Our only regret is that we did not find these dogs earlier in our lives and that we didn't start attempting to preserve them sooner.

Dash II around 1874 Hank's Ringo Bondhu 2008 A perfect example how similar the Dashing Bondhu's are today compared with the original Dash II and Ringo 134 years later and just as good if not better bird dogs today as well. Can there be any doubt that they are pure Dashing Bondhu? By the way, Hank's Ringo Bondhu, is out of OLN's "Hank" and Dashing Chess Bondhu (our Blaze's littermate) and is the Grand sire of our Hank, Chess, Henrietta, Missy, Tonette, and Champ as well as the Great Grand sire of our Freckles, Babe, and others.

As you can see the Dashing Bondhu's are the cream of the crop and always considered a great asset to any breeding program. You can see many kennels advertising their Setters have Bondhu, Dashing Bondhu, or Count blood in their dogs. They brag about having a little of these bloodlines in their Setters and know their reputation is the BEST. Our point is, if a little Dashing Bondhu is worth bragging about, think what they would say if they owned a pure bred Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setter.  Bottom line, if you can find any better bred pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters out of proven Gun Dog Certified hunting parents anywhere in the world than at Mountain View Kennel, buy them!